The chief executive promised yesterday to use all means possible to fight for justice for victims of the Manila bus hostage tragedy almost three years ago.

Leung Chun-ying's second meet-the-public session, in Kwun Tong, was a much quieter affair than his first one last week, when he caused uproar in some quarters by expressing support for the police's handling of a protest in Mong Kok at which rival groups clashed over a teacher's verbal attack on officers.

This time he kept his opening remarks short and apolitical, simply addressing the district's opportunities and difficulties.

Pro-government allies were dominant in the audience of 280, with only a dozen people from the pro-democratic People Power managing to get in.

The event in Kwun Tong Kung Lok Government School was largely peaceful, although there were minor clashes between the two camps before Leung entered and at the end. Inquiries raised by the public yesterday mainly focused on local livelihood issues.

But Tse Chi-kin, brother of tour guide Masa Tse Ting-chunn who was killed in the hostage tragedy, questioned Leung on his progress in dealing with the aftermath of the shooting.

"Taiwan spent only three months to demand an official apology from the Philippines [for the fatal shooting of a Taiwanese fisherman]," Tse said. "Why has the Hong Kong government failed to do so after three whole years?"

Leung said he would never forget the tragedy and vowed to fight for justice for the victims and their relatives.

"The government has met the Philippine consulate 23 times since 2012 and the latest meeting took place just last Monday," Leung said.

Tse is seeking a formal apology and compensation from Manila over the deaths of his brother and seven Hong Kong tourists, who died when their bus was hijacked by disgruntled former policeman Rolando Mendoza.

This article appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition as Leung vows justice for bus hostages

Taiwan takes 3 months while HK takes 3 years.............the reason is simple..........Nobody in the outside world gives any respect to HK.......From the Donald Tsang days to the now even worse CY Leung, there has never been a respectable CE governing HK.........The biggest difference between the Tsang days and the CY days is that no one ever had any expectations from Tsang as he has shown his incompetency for too long..............The hopes that people had for CY never materialized because it turns out, he was even worse than Tsang.............With CE's like these two idiots, would you bother to apologize or make any compensation if you were a leader of another country?.............of course not!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Dai Muff Aug 19th 20139:53am

You mean they are going to keep up the childish travel danger warning that nobody takes seriously any more?

discovery.inn Aug 19th 20138:15am

showmanship -- not a true Q & A

hkbulib2 Aug 19th 20139:22am

What's he gonna do? blame all filpinos here in hong kong for what happened

chaz_hen Aug 19th 20131:39pm

I read last week there would be 300 police to ensure an orderly session this time. I read today there were 280 attendees.
Wow... impressive ratio...no wonder it was all peaceful and quiet.

Actually no.. the biggest difference was that the Taiwan government actually imposed a ban on imports from the Philippines after their incident.. include a ban on new domestic helpers going to Taiwan... If the HK government had the guts to do the same, I'm pretty sure the Philippines government would have apologized and given full compensation to all the victims... However, imagine the outcry and the collapse of HK society, even for a few months, if no new domestic helpers were allowed to come? The HK government just needs to do things that might be unpopular and stop listening to all the idiots out there who want to have a say as well...

No even meeting the public - the people in the hall were mostly recruited by his own supporters - simply to give him the sound board

chuchu59 Aug 19th 20137:43am

Justice my foot! Can CY care to tell us the progress attained after these 23 meetings. What were the issues discussed. Surely this cannot be kept under wraps for much longer. Though Tsang's team had done nothing, CY had been CE for more than a year but there has been no apparent progress. I understand that some things cannot be disclosed but surely there needs to be some revelations as to what has been discussed.Meanwhile, I am sorry multiple posts have appeared. I tried to edit them and key in blank posts but this didn't work. Can SCMP do it for me?

chuchu59 Aug 19th 20137:31am

Justice my foot! Can CY care to tell us the progress attained after these 23 meetings. What were the issues discussed. Surely this cannot be kept under wraps for much longer. Though Tsang's team had done nothing, CY had been CE